Record Store Day 2015 at David’s Music in Letchworth

Last year I turned up at my local record store, David’s Music, in the afternoon for some live music, without a a second thought for the exclusives on sale and whether they’d still be in stock. Of course they weren’t, and so I ended up getting the Beach Boys Surfin’ Safari reissue on eBay 2 weeks later, and at an inflated price. This year I went a little earlier, but it seems that 9.30am, 90 minutes after the store opened, was still within the expect a big queue time frame.

45 minutes and the weekly shop later and we returned, the we being my 6 year old son and I. Still a big queue, but what the hell, we joined it in a naive hope that it would move quickly. I wasn’t actually sure what was on offer this year, but one tweet to David’s Music later and one of the staff came out with a list for me. See, that’s one of the great things about David’s Music, not only do they have a fantastic selection of vinyl, and other forms of media too, but the staff are top notch, and the makes a huge difference. I decided on 7″ singles by Simon & Garfunkel, The Who and Brian Wilson, while my son Lucas chose Bears in Space by The 2 Bears – I’m thinking he knew something I didn’t, or just really likes bears.

Queue Outside David’s Music for Record Store Day 2015

As records went out of stock the staff would come out and tell us, and that is exactly what happened with Simon & Garfunkel and The Who. Chatting to the guy in front of us in the queue and it turned out he wanted the Brain Wilson record too, so even if I made it to the front while there was still daylight, this chap might grab the last remaining copy of the one thing left on my wish list potentially still available. Even with this uncertainty looming, we stayed in the queue.

At 90 minutes I did wonder if it was wise, and whether it was all really worth it, but the doubt soon disappeared after the staff confirmed via their Twitter account they had 8 copies of Brian Wilson still in stock – surely that was enough to afford me a copy? Once inside we got to the counter pretty quickly, which seems strange as the queue outside moved far more slowly – must be a bigger on the inside Tardis type phenomenon.

I did manage to get the Brian Wilson single, which features two songs from his recent No Pier Pressure album: The Right Time and Sail Away, and is packed in an old school sleeve, complete with hole in the middle. I also got a Black Friday 2014 Bon Jovi release Live 2, with 2 live tracks on each side: I’ll Be There For You / Lay Your Hands On Me and Bad Medecine / Runaway. Bon Jovi have been my favourite band since listening to Slippery When Wet in 1986, while The Beach Boys I discovered a few years later. So even though only one was a Record Store Day 2015 release, both tickled my fancy and then some.

Record Store Day 2015 Purchases from David’s Music

Next year we’ll be sleeping overnight outside the shop, at least that’s what Lucas declared in this video we recorded just a few hours after our Record Store Day Experience:

The lesson learned is get there early for Record Store Day 2016, very early, and choosing a shop as good as David’s Music is also a huge positive too. I’m thinking reading up on the releases beforehand might be of benefit too, at least then I’ll know if there’s something I want, which for a vinyl collector is highly probable. It was a fun experience, and the atmosphere in the queue and inside the shop makes all the waiting worthwhile.